Condition Report
Contact Information
Lot 214
Sale 2065 - Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana
Nov 14, 2024
9:00AM CT
Live / Chicago
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Estimate
$600 -
800
Price Realized
$1,143
Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium
Lot Description
WILDE, Oscar (1854-1900). The Importance of Being Earnest. A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. London: Leonard Smithers and Co., 1899.
8vo. Half-title. Original lilac cloth gilt designed by Charles Shannon, uncut (spine toned and slightly leaned, fore-corners bumped, some soiling to covers). Provenance: erased ownership signature; gift inscription dated 1904 below; armorial bookplate on pastedown.
FIRST EDITION, LIMITED ISSUE, number 30 of 1,000 copies, of Wilde's "last and greatest play" (Ellman, Oscar Wilde, p.412). The Importance of Being Earnest opened at St. James's Theater in London on 14 February 1895, but was withdrawn after only 86 performances after Wilde's arrest and imprisonment on charges of gross indecency. Mason 381.